Crackpot Theory: Gale was going to propose to Katniss at the beginning of THG.
Disclaimer: I’ve never taken part in any official THG reread/discussion and I essentially read the book in isolation, so anything I say in these posts may well have been discussed and dismissed years ago.
While mulling over Ch 1 this time around (this is why I’m no longer a quick reader, lol), a couple of things leapt out at me and made my brain go:
Exhibit A: (This was the biggie.) Gale meets Katniss at “their place” in the woods with a loaf of expensive bakery bread. "Fine bread like this is for special occasions,” Katniss explains in the narrative. (And while this reaping being Gale’s last might well qualify the day as a “special occasion,” neither of them remark on it, which I find curious.) We know that they can buy “good bread” from a vendor at the Hob - in fact, they do so that very morning on their trading rounds - yet Gale made a special trip to the bakery at the crack of dawn on Reaping Day (an extra expenditure of time, energy, and resources) for a fine loaf expressly to share with Katniss. This purchase may have necessitated an extra trip to the woods that morning (before dawn and without Katniss) to hunt a squirrel to trade for said bread, unless Gale managed to snare a squirrel inside the fence (also, it seems odd to me that he’d be trading with squirrel since that tends to be Katniss’s currency, in light of her superior marksmanship). Or maybe, if this was an especially significant loaf, Gale paid cash for it while telling Katniss that it cost “just a squirrel”...
And yes, I know it’s Reaping Day so special treats are customary, but answer me this: Why make a trading visit (without your hunting partner) to get top-of-the-line bread (to share with your partner) even though you could buy perfectly “good” bread for much less at the Hob, which you will do shortly thereafter when making your “official” trading rounds (with your partner) later that morning?
Exhibit B: After slicing the bread (and spreading the goat cheese, etc), Gale initiates the “We could run away together” conversation. At this point Katniss is gazing down into the valley, savoring the beautiful day and the delicious food, while Gale’s out-of-nowhere remark implies that he thinks she’s on the same wavelength (i.e., “the two of us could make it out there”). To Katniss’s everlasting credit, her internal reaction is: “I don’t know how to respond. The idea is so preposterous.” :) :) :)
Exhibit C: Gale amends his wild suggestion with “if we didn’t have so many kids” - to which Katniss immediately responds, “I never want to have kids.” There’s a whole post in that exchange alone, but to sum up: Gale describes their predicament in an unusually suggestive manner, if you will (bless you @ghtlovesthg for phrasing it like that!). He could have just as easily said something like “if we didn’t have little siblings,” or “if we weren’t responsible for so many other lives” but instead he groups the pair of them like a married couple and describes their siblings as though they were their own children (we see what you’re trying to do there, Gale...). Equally interesting ( @ghtlovesthg pointed this out too) is that Katniss, exquisitely oblivious in many circumstances, must subliminally pick up on his intimation somehow, because she consciously knows exactly what he’s referring to and yet the next words out of her mouth are “I never want to have kids.”
Exhibit D: Gale tries again, more overtly: “I might. If I didn’t live here. [i.e., if we were living in the woods together]” (And now all I can think of is “Close your eyes, start a journey to a strange new world / Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before...” - a la “Music of the Night.” :D)
Which enticement - delightfully - only serves to irritate Katniss and she shoots him down with, “But you do,” to which his response is a snapped, “Forget it.”
Sidenote: For some reason, I suddenly find it very funny indeed that as Katniss is processing the preceding exchange, she thinks “if he wants kids, Gale won’t have any trouble finding a wife.” Not, “Oh no, Gale might get married?!” She admits to being jealous of him as her hunting partner (which I think is true), but it doesn’t seem to concern (or indeed, involve) her one iota that he might be looking for a wife and mother of his children. :) :) :)
Exhibit E: However “flatly,” Gale tells Katniss to “wear something pretty” for the reaping. This could simply be sarcasm or even a riff on his compliment to Madge (”Pretty dress” - which could be the subject of a whole ‘nother post in itself! ;D), but it’s an interesting remark in light of everything that’s transpired between them that morning.
Exhibit F: When Katniss finally spots Gale at the reaping, he’s looking at her with “the ghost of a smile” (an uncommon expression on his face). It’s in the context of Haymitch and Effie’s altercation on the stage, so there is a lightness and even humor to the moment, but we also know that he sent Katniss home to look pretty and she came back looking beautiful. And that at some point after they make eye contact, “his face darkens and he looks away.” Which could be typical Gale anger, but again: it’s curious in light of their interactions earlier that day.
Exhibit G: “Katniss, remember I -” Maybe it’s awful of me, but I enjoy that Katniss seems to have no idea what he was trying to tell her while a reader never had any doubt. (It’s not just me, surely?)
Further, this was Gale’s final (i.e., 18-year-old) reaping. While there’s nothing in canon to explicitly support this, there are various fanon traditions about couples getting married as soon as they “age out” of the reaping, and Gale wants a wife and kids. Had Katniss not been reaped, would he have brought up the idea of an engagement (with a marriage to follow after her final reaping)? Do you think he literally wanted her to run off to the woods with him, or was the suggestion more in the way of trying to make her see him as a romantic/marital prospect? Women respond more positively to romantic cues after they’ve been fed, after all (this is why Everlark was destined to be endgame! :D) and Gale brought an awfully fine treat to feed his prospective mate before reminding her of what a great hunter and provider he is. (And now I’m thinking about that Superb Bird of Paradise courtship video where the male does his bizarre dance and the female - after watching him in “WTF??” fashion - ultimately just hops away. In the words of David Attenborough, “It’s hard not to feel deflated when even your best isn’t good enough”!)
What if Gale was hoping for a secret toasting in the woods that morning and that’s why he went out of his way to obtain toasting-caliber bread before meeting Katniss in the woods?? (And yes, I know it’s a crackpot theory, hence the title. But it’s curious nonetheless!)
